Back to Work: Australia

Improving the Re-employment Prospects of Displaced Workers

Job displacement (involuntary job loss due to firm closure or downsizing) affects
many workers over their lifetime. Displaced workers may face long periods of unemployment
and, even when they find new jobs, tend to be paid less and have fewer benefits than
in their prior jobs. Helping them get back into good jobs quickly should be a key
goal of labour market policy. This report is the fourth in a series of reports looking
at how this challenge is being tackled in a number of OECD countries. It shows that
many displaced workers get new jobs relatively quickly in Australia, mostly thanks
to a flexible and dynamic labour market. A small minority of displaced workers receive
special support via the labour adjustment programmes, but some displaced workers who
would need specific assistance, in particular in the older worker and/or low-educated
groups, do not get sufficient support or only too late. There is room to improve policies
by moving away from the current sectoral approach to special assistance programmes
for workers collectively dismissed, towards an approach covering all sectors of the
economy, with the intensity of intervention tailored to the circumstances and needs
of the displaced workers. Expanding the training component for displaced workers and
making use of skills assessment and training to better target the training and enhance
its effectiveness would also help displaced workers transition to sustainable jobs
of a certain quality.